Sixteen days after their UH-60 Black Hawk crashed off the island of Oahu, the two remaining crewmembers have been declared dead.
Army officials on Thursday evening announced they have changed the duty status of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brian Woeber and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Stephen Cantrell from whereabouts unknown to deceased.
The change was made after Brig. Gen. James Iacocca, the Army adjutant general, approved the results of a 25th Infantry Division administrative investigation into the soldiers’ personnel status, officials said in a statement.
The 25th Infantry Division conducted the administrative investigation to determine the soldiers’ status after extensive search and rescue efforts by the Army, Coast Guard, Navy and multiple local and state agencies, officials said in the statement. The search was unsuccessful and was called off Aug. 21.
Woeber and Cantrell were two of the five crewmembers onboard the Black Hawk when it crashed Aug. 15 during a night training mission off Kaena Point, the Army said.
First Lt. Kathryn Bailey, Staff Sgt. Abigail Milam and Sgt. Michael Nelson were declared dead on Aug. 26 after analysis of organic matter discovered among recovered debris matched their DNA.
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Woeber, 41, of Decatur, Alabama, joined the Army in September 2003. He was a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
His deployments include Afghanistan and Egypt.
Cantrell, 32, of Wichita Falls, Texas, joined the Army in September 2007. He was a Black Hawk pilot who also was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
He deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.
Recovery and salvage efforts relating to the crash are still ongoing, the Army said.
The incident is also still under investigation.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
